Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT

The 2010 Nemertes PilotHouse Awards recognize enterprise-technology providers in 14 computing and communications categories: Carrier Ethernet Services, Cloud Computing, Data-Center Colocation, IP Contact Centers, IP Telephony, MPLS Services, Security as a Service, Servers for Virtualization, Sustainability, Unified Communications, Virtual Desktops, WAN Optimization, and Wireless LANs.

The annual PilotHouse Awards reflect how vendors and service providers perform in the eyes of their business buyers. What makes the PilotHouse award so unique? The results are based 100% on the views and experiences of actual technology buyers. Nemertes’ determines the methodology, conducts the research and analyzes the findings, however, Nemertes has no influence over vendor performance. The opinions rest with real buyers. In addition, no vendors sponsor this research.

During this Webinar, Nemertes will announce this year's winners and give details of the findings. We will discuss the methodology behind the selections, what stands out among winners, and how the results help IT technology buyers make well-informed purchasing decisions.

Presenter: Irwin Lazar, Vice President for Communications and Collaboration Research
Moderator: Johna Till Johnson, President and Senior Founding Partner

Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT

What are the top three characteristics of highly successful IT organizations? Which technologies are emerging as must-haves for 2010, 2011, and beyond? Where are successful companies turning to managed, hosted, and cloud services—and why?

Nemertes Issue Paper

Overview: Application delivery optimization (ADO) is the design of networks and systems to guarantee appropriate, effective application delivery in the distributed and mobile world. Effective delivery encompasses application availability and performance. Appropriate delivery encompasses aspects of security, especially access control, to ensure that services are delivered only to the correct parties in the increasingly perimeterless world.
Writ large, ADO touches on everything from application architecture to WAN provisioning. Practically, the focus is most often on application delivery controllers, WAN optimization, and associated monitoring and management systems, systems that detect and correct the performance problems created by application architectures, code shortcomings, server and desktop limitations, and WAN problems.

We take a holistic perspective, and note that ADO is at the confluence of many IT architectures. IT staff in server and application management, data center network management, desktop management, security and risk mitigation, and WAN management have to look at their problems as related and approach solving them together. Choices can be made tactically, with respect to a single perspective, or strategically, looking across several. Staff should be preparing to be what IT will need in the future: application delivery architects, application delivery managers.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT

Users don't care about WAN link speeds or server uptime. All they care about is "Can I use my application?" Application delivery optimization (ADO) is the design and deployment of systems aimed at ensuring delivery of enterprise applications to end users, wherever and however connected, with appropriate performance and security. ADO encompasses use of application delivery controllers, WAN optimizers, and other end-point and data center techniques and tools to boost application responsiveness and availability. It crosses WAN, data center, and security architectures, and focuses IT on the most critical aspect of service delivery -- can your users, partners, and customers use what they need to use to get the business of the organization done?

Presenter: John Burke, Principal Research Analyst

Nemertes Issue Paper

Overview: New applications and an evolving organizational environment drive bandwidth growth and a need for predictable, stable, real-time performance. Voice Over IP (VoIP), voice and video conferencing, and collaboration tools are sweeping through organizations, while Software as a Service (SaaS) is shifting the place where optimization (and security) must happen. Desktop virtualization adds “desktop-like” to “LAN-like” as a user-performance expectation. As a result, network traffic must be conditioned to the new applications and controlled according to organizational policies and priorities. As IT shifts to charging business lines back for bandwidth, it will need the visibility and control to meet user expectations and business line SLAs. Now is the time for IT to re-evaluate its WAN optimization requirements and plans.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Who should attend: Data center and network managers, directors, and architects

Data center networks are evolving to move more kinds of data at higher speeds and with greater intelligence than ever before. Attend to hear Nemertes explore how the consolidation of storage and data networks, the spread of 10 gigabit Ethernet, and increasing network awareness of applications and users are creating the new data center network and powering the new data center.

Nemertes Issue Paper

Overview: Technology is at a major transition point, similar to the shift from Management Information Systems (MIS) to Information Technology (IT) in the 1990s. In this case, the shift is from IT to Enterprise Technology (ET), driven by the confluence of new technologies and ongoing business imperatives. This transition point means that certain technology functions are commoditizing rapidly, while others are becoming more strategic. The fundamental challenge facing IT professionals is to determine quickly and accurately which functions are which, and react accordingly. This means IT leaders must embrace both strategic and utilitarian roles. Or, to put it another way, today’s IT professionals need a special version of the “serenity prayer”: “God grant me the ability to invest in enterprise technology, the courage to commoditize information technology, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Nemertes Issue Paper

Overview: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are network-based in which the attacker plants malicious code on numerous, scattered, and usually unwitting, servers or desktops. Those machines (called zombies) then flood a single IP address with packets so it is driven offline, unable to handle the volume. The attacks are devastating, extremely difficult to trace, and impossible to predict. The only defense is to use purpose-built appliances that must stay one step ahead of the attackers in both performance and functionality. There are two primary choices for enterprise defense: on-premises do-it-yourself (DIY) and cloud-based DDoS defense service. Each has pros and cons but the unique characteristics of a DDoS attack in conjunction with significant cost savings of the cloud-based service shift the decision in favor of the service.

Overview: New developments, such as Web 2.0, virtualization and Web services, are pushing data-center planners to make a complex and difficult decision: Outsource, build your own data center, or re-optimize the existing data center. Today, most organizations (53%) do some form of data-center outsourcing (either in addition to or instead of owning). A combination of factors drives the choice: location, financial, skill set, risk management, and power. Some see outsourcing options as a continuum from leasing through cloud services. Over the next three years, the differences between the services will blur. Two primary factors that ultimately influence the outsourcing choice are the economy and overcoming compliance and privacy concerns for cloud computing. IT organizations will resolve these issues, and we project significant movement to cloud services as alternatives to build-your-own, co-location, managed hosting and even disaster backup facilities. Most organizations should continue to architect a mixed environment. Success correlates most highly with mixed (owned plus co-location)

Nemertes Issue Paper

Overview:
The data center is undergoing a radical shift, from virtualization towards internal cloud environments where workloads dynamically move, start and stop driven by real-time performance needs. At the same time, IT practitioners are interested in exploring external cloud computing options---but security and compliance concerns are squelching adoption.

A key concern is trust. Moving to a cloud provider shifts the burden of trust onto the provider--something that few providers are able to handle today. To overcome this concern, responsibility for security and compliance needs to stay with the customer. This requires an overhaul of security practices – the same practices we’ve been using for 15 years. We need new security and compliance controls that span the physical, virtual, cloud continuum (not everything will be virtual so security must continue to protect physical assets). We also need security controls that are location-aware and dynamically enforce policy regardless of workload location. This requires an adaptive perimeter defense and restoration of depth for defense in depth.

All IT functions are heading into the clouds: Cloud computing, cloud storage, cloud collaboration, cloud content management, cloud unified communications and even cloud security and compliance. Yet, security and compliance concerns are holding back adoption.

Nemertes’ PilotHouse Awards recognizes how vendors and service providers perform in the eyes of their business customers. What makes Nemertes’ PilotHouse award so unique?

The winners of the Nemertes PilotHouse Awards represent the “movers and shakers” among communications and computing vendors, and their customers, the IT practitioners deploying those technologies.

Vendors:

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

It’s highly likely that in a few years, we’ll be looking back at 2009 as the year when everything changed for IT. The recession literally decimated IT forces, or worse: Sixty-seven percent of organizations are decreasing their IT departments by an average of 17%.

Nemertes Issue Paper

Overview: Whether an organization’s virtual workers are at a branch location, on the road, or working from home, they require IT support to stay connected to the rest of their team. The IT department’s challenge is to make sure these workers get predictable, high-performance access to applications and data no matter where they reside. The problem: Only 18% of branch locations (and virtually no telecommuter sites) house IT expertise.

Overview:

Speaks to the IT manager concerned with security. Introducing virtualization into a data center increases the complexity of the environment and presents a new “threat surface,” the hypervisor and its associated management tools, to attack.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Overview:

Overview

Overview

Groundbreaking research into the effects of server, desktop, and application virtualization on the operations and organization of IT, including useful metrics and practical advice to IT.

Exploring what is now driving IT to virtualize servers and desktops, what returns they are seeing, and the challenges they face as they proceed.

Overview:

Speaks to the IT manager concerned with security. Introducing virtualization into a data center increases the complexity of the environment and presents a new “threat surface,” the hypervisor and its associated management tools, to attack.

Organizations are moving virtual servers out of test and development systems and into
production, whether to improve agility, reduce costs, or grapple with limitations in the data
center. In doing so, they are faced with new issues of governance, security, management, and
compliance. Many IT executives are also beginning to apply the lessons they have learned from

The 2008 Nemertes Research PilotHouse Awards dinner for Virtualization was held Sunday, November 16, 2008 at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco.

PilotHouse and Innovator Award winners were recognized and honored for their achievements.

Nemertes 2008 PilotHouse Awards - Desktop and Server Virtualization

Nemertes PilotHouse Award program recognize virtualization vendors and service providers
demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as customer
service, technological innovation, value and strategic product development.

In our research on enterprise virtualization use, we have heard many a server admin, data center director, and service engineer complain that as they have virtualized servers, it has gotten harder for people to find things when they need them.

Overview:

Nemertes Market Analysis: Virtualization Security

Nemertes Research has launched a groundbreaking project that provides in-depth analysis of Server & Desktop Virtualization Research . The project includes the following components:

Market Analysis

In this piece of the project, Nemertes’ team of expert analysts will define critical product and service categories in the virtualization market, the key trends and conditions within each, and will analyze key vendors and their products and positioning.

The Market Analysis covers the following market segments:

• Security
• Desktop and Server Platforms
• Management

If you would like to be included in this Market Analysis, please contact John Burke at john.burke@nemertes.com.

Benchmark

Nemertes built its reputation on its one-of-a-kind benchmarking.
Senior analysts will interview 100-150 IT executives, and provide data,
analysis, and insight on best practices for Server & Desktop Virtualization. By thoroughly analyzing real deployments, Nemertes will uncover::

• What servers and services, and whose desktops, are being virtualized first, and why?
• The reasons for not virtualizing particular services, servers, or desktops.
• How to build a business case for moving to virtualized servers and/or desktops.
• The criteria for selecting the right virtualization platform.
• How does the IT organization change to reflect a virtualized infrastructure?
• How organizations build a secure and manageable virtual infrastructure.

All clients have access to all Nemertes research deliverables. Clients can contact client-services@nemertes.com for
further information.

Non-clients, or vendors or carriers who want more information may contact Kathy Cardinale, kathy.cardinale@nemertes.com
(vendor/carrier/service provider sales) or John Dofter (enterprise sales).

IT decision-makers who would like to participate in the research should contact John Dofter, john.dofter@nemertes.com.

The Issue:

Server virtualization is one of the most-discussed technologies of the past
few years. We find that although some organizations are already generating
substantial savings with virtualization in their production environments, the
majority of participants in Nemertes’ Security and Information Protection
benchmark research are not yet using virtual servers in production. They plan to,
however, looking for the increased resource utilization, broader platform
standardization, and deeper management automation that server virtualization
enables.

As virtual servers move into production, IT needs to address security and
compliance issues. Unfortunately, most participants in the benchmark, when
asked how they secure their virtual servers, say they treat them like physical
servers as much as possible! Sensibly, they use host-based security such as antivirus
and anti-malware agents. However, they also use network tools to protect
virtual servers exactly as if they were simply very thin, very densely stacked rackmount
boxes.